Shepherd, Bosch and Boult bowl MI NY to victory

Marcus Stoinis did everything. Nearly. He dismissed MI NY's half-centurion Quinton de Kock, finished with figures of 3-14, top-scored in the small chase and, with 14 runs needed off the last over, he hit the first ball for a six. All of this was still not enough for Seattle Orcas to break their pattern of LWLWLWL in MLC 2026 as they suffered a fourth loss in a low-scoring encounter.

About that final over. Kieron Pollard took pace off and Stoinis tried to steer a short ball over the infield. He couldn't clear backward point fielder Romario Shepherd. Jasdeep Singh, who dragged the chase into the final over with two fours and a six in the 19th over, couldn't connect against Pollard's slower ones and Orcas fell five short. Orcas probably had no business getting this close after needing 43 off the last three overs.

Yet Orcas would rue pacing this chase better after tying down MI NY for 132/8. Stoinis was the protagonist there too — four overs for 14 runs and three scalps including de Kock who nearly scored half MI NY's runs. De Kock added 47 with Pooran and 35 with Dhillon, but once he was out, a procession followed.

The surface proved a bowlers' ally. Shepherd made the most of sluggish conditions with 3-16, accounting for Seifert, Jayasuriya and Hetmyer as Orcas slipped to 59/5. Trent Boult and Corbin Bosch struck early — Bosch finishing with scarcely believable figures of 1-11 in four overs.

Orcas kept crashing as no partnership exceeded 19 runs until Stoinis and Jasdeep came together at 95/8. Their effort — 30 off 10 — piqued interest in a late heist but they fell agonisingly short at 125/9.

Brief Scores: MI New York 132/8 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 61; Marcus Stoinis 3-14, Ottneil Baartman 2-23, Jasdeep Singh 2-36) beat Seattle Orcas 125/9 in 20 overs (Marcus Stoinis 36; Romario Shepherd 3-16) by 5 runs